“What happens with people is that as we get into the New Year, we make resolutions and we are not able to keep it up because the expectations are raised too high and we cannot fit it into our daily routine, and so people think ‘I can’t do this’ and take that as a failure,” Cidambi said.

Second, write down your short- and long-term goals so you can track your progress.

“Take small steps. Really keep the goals on an incremental basis, and so if you see in the first two weeks, I’m losing a pound, that kind of makes you get motivated and you want to stick to the plan,” Cidambi said.

Third, make meditation a habit. By setting aside 10 minutes a day to meditate, you can make real progress toward your stress-reduction goal.